Youth split on interest in murder

More than one-third of today's youth feels the subject of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's murder to be of little personal interest.

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Thirteen years after the murder of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in central Tel Aviv, more than one-third of today's youth feels the subject to be of little personal interest, reports www.local.co.il. In an internet survey of 400 Israelis aged 12 to 18 by the ShowMe company, 37 percent said they were not interested in the subject because they were too young to remember the killing or because it was a matter "for my parents." According to the report, the survey asked the youngsters if they were interested in the subject of Rabin's murder or if they felt it belonged to a different generation. Encouragingly, 63% responded that the subject interested them personally. But 30% said they were not interested because they were too young to remember it, and a further 7% said, "It is a matter for my parents." The survey showed that girls were generally more interested than boys in the topic. The survey also asked the youngsters what they felt about the murder. Some 43% said they believed it had caused immense damage to Israel and 38% said murder was prohibited irrespective of differences in political opinions. But 10% said they were "apathetic" and 8% said that while they did not identify with the murderer, "I can understand what drove him." The survey also asked whether the youngsters had studied the subject at school. Some 57% responded, "Yes, it is a very important subject," while 21% said yes but the subject had not interested them. Thirteen percent did not remember if they had studied the topic and 9% said they had not studied it and it did not interest them. "It is interesting to see that the murder of the prime minister, which occurred more than a decade ago, is still in the consciousness of youths who were small children at the time," a spokesman for the ShowMe company said. "At the same time, it should be noted that there is a not insignificant percentage who say that the subject belongs to a previous generation, that of their parents, and this can make it irrelevant in their eyes."